Why I hit Pause on Social Media

If you are here, you are curious and ready to learn all the good things that come from a social media sabbatical.

Or maybe you know you need it, but you're just not sure if you can. I promise you, you can, and it will be so worth it.

You may even end up like me, unsure if you are ready, or ever really want to go back.

In my last post I talked about the positive things I have noticed while taking this originally unintentional break from social media. Those benefits that were front and center in my mind on our recent camping trip.

You can read that post here.

So lets go for a little deep dive and unpack the things I learnt while enjoying my social media sabbatical, why you need one too, and how we would change the world if we all take it back a step.

Over consumption - We consume so much more than we need, in every sense. To the point that it actually scares me how many things we see each day that we didn't need to. On average, individuals are exposed to between 6,000 to 10,000 advertisements each day. This wild number includes things like TV and online ads, social media promotions, billboards, prints ads etc.

This number varies based on things like media consumption habits, geographic location and personal lifestyle. And the volume of ads we see is only likely to increase.

Our brains have evolved since we began way back, to navigate a world that was hugely different from today's hyper-connected, advertisement-saturated environment. Our brains struggle to handle the overload of information they now must process each day. With negative effects like cognitive overload making it difficult to decide what is important information from distractions, hijacking our attention and our emotional responses, leading to stress, anxiety and a sense of inadequacy.

And… Social Comparison.

Perfect Life Fomo. Is everyone living their best life? Or did we just see 10 highlight reels in a row?

Evolutionarily, we are hardwired to be social creatures who thrive on community and belonging. The ads, posts, photos and videos we are constantly exposed to often promote idealized lifestyles, leading to social comparison and feelings of dissatisfaction with our own life, negatively affecting our mental health.

I talked about this in my last post, how Sammy said he feels like everyones always on holidays, but is that just because we see 10 holidays in a row? Which leads to my next point…

Influencer culture - We have always had it, but now we get it from people we have never met, who get paid to tell us what we need. This could be a whole post, a whole post series even, if I let it. Maybe one day…

I recently got influenced the old fashion way… By a well dressed stranger while eating a burger and drinking a frozen margarita at Dreamworld. And aside from wanting to try brown mascara instead of black, and adding a vitamin c serum to my skincare, I haven't felt influenced to purchase anything I don't actually need, because noone was telling me I needed it.

I did learn a makeup trick or two thanks to watching a few of my fave youtubers recreate that viral passport makeup tutorial, and with my super minimal makeup collection I just recreated it with what I have and got a pretty decent photo. And well the vitamin C… I'm a bridesmaid soon, and almost closer to 40 than I am 30. So I'll take all the sun damage protection I can get, while I also enjoy my morning sunshine to soak up the good things the sunshine has to offer. Like life!

I feel that influencer culture has us forgetting that we don’t need everything we see, and not everything is right for everyone. So before you get influenced, do some research, and make the decision yourself.

Photos - Yep! You will still want to take photos, just for the memories, and you will enjoy them even more because they will be real, not perfect.

I have thoroughly loved not feeling any pressure to “capture the moment” to post to the gram. Or to feel like I need to be looking my best for anyone but myself. Because there is noone outside of my inner circle that I have to share it with.

The photographer in me sometimes forgets the part of photography that I always loved most. That photos are meant to invoke the feelings of the moment they were taken. Not be picture perfect to be compared against something else.

I can't tell you the amount of times while editing wedding photos, I was taken right back to that moment, almost like the photo sparked my memory into a mini mind movie. It's magic like that. And that's the feeling I have been getting again when I pull out my trusty iphone 12 to snap a photo while on this break from the socials, looking back through the photos I captured, just for us. Some of them will make it to see this blog, or my instagram feed. But I will be remembering the reason we want to take them in the first place from now on.

Being present - You notice the little things, the little moments, and how many little things you usually miss. And especially at the start, you notice how much, without awareness, you go to the gram.

Even the few times I have been on to look up something or reply to a message I would end up scrolling, before catching myself and being horrified with the lack of awareness I had about getting to the explore page, and even more horrified how well they have designed it specifically to make it that way.

While camping recently, we saw the most epic shooting stars, that are gone in a second, and everytime I see one I always wonder how many we miss, and what else we miss while looking down, at a screen instead of out, at the beauty and magic of the world.

Purchases - You will consume more consciously because you buy what you want and need, not what is trending, going viral or looks cool on someone else's feed.

I love pretty things, aesthetically pleasing things, things that go well together. I love to look nice too. But I have never felt the need to be trendy. Lucky for me most things seem to be coming about around pretty quick these days. But the whole “things going viral” trend is wild, and creating mass consumerism. I'm looking at you Stanley cup accessories! Don't get me started on how we turned being eco friendly and sustainable into gross over-consumerism that is completely unnecessary ~ Think 8 pack of cheap, pretty, plastic things to attaceh to your cup for $20 on amazon ~. My Decor smoothie cup for home and the random brand insulated water bottle for out and about work just fine without attaching a phone holder, beaded wristlet, bell and whistle with water activated light for attracting attention.

But in all seriousness, I have loved not feeling the need to have anything random that I needed. And have enjoyed the purchases I have made so much more, because I thought about what I needed or wanted, why so and made sure I found the best one for me.

Not the one the perfectly curated girl on instagram sold to me, that may or may not even be the one she actually uses.

Upped selfcare/style - I have really dived into my style and my selfcare. How I want to present myself to the world, and what my skin/body/hair actually likes, not what works for someone else.

I'm not sure if it's just my stage, or age or masses of “style” I see every time I open instagram. But I was struggling to find clothes and styles I liked or felt like me, I wasn't even sure what I wanted to wear aside from activewear and oversized tees. I also felt the desire to branch out and be more creative with my style, but the trends and overwhelm of fashion I would see left me feeling like I had no idea what I like anymore.

This ones still a work in progress, but I have much more clarity about the style I want to create now that I have stopped seeing 300 different trends everyday. And I'm pretty sure it's not too far off what I have always liked anyways.

Opinions dont matter - I remembered I actually don’t care what other people think. And I'm going to start showing up more like me, in real life and online. I don't care what a random person on the street thinks of my existence, as long as I'm a good human. So I'm bringing that here too.

This ties back into how we humans evolved to need community, and therefore to be liked. Way back when it was for survival. Now we are worried about the thoughts random people on the internet might have of us. Thoughts im choosing to no longer worry about.

Screen time - My screen time tally on my phone scares me - and thats without facebook or instagram. Dont look into how much of our life we spend on our phones. Or do… And go camping. Without social media.

“Based on recent data, the average person spends around 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day. This equates to about 1 day per week, 6 days per month, and 70 days per year.

Assuming an average lifespan of 80 years, this means a person could potentially spend approximately 12 years of their life looking at their phone. However, this is a rough estimate and can vary depending on individual habits and the evolution of technology”

Okay I couldn't help it… It blows my mind. Even today my screen time is well over that average, and while I was on instagram, I didn't even get lost in the scroll once…

It's so easy to do, and its so refreshing when you take a break.

If this hasnt convinced you to take a little sabbatical, this podcast that came up recently ~ I think my phone must be listening to what I'm writing... ~ might convince you.

Modern Advice Podcast with Phoebe Kuhn

Writing this post, I feel like it seems these points are all negative until you unpack them. And then its easy to see the benefits we get without the constant stream of media.

So if you take each one of these points, and flip it, the positives of a social media break seem like it would be a no brainer. Except for one thing… they designed it so its that freaking hard to feel like you can do, they used our hard wiring against us.

But we humans are adaptable and stronger than they think. If we just choose to be.

I promise you will still know everything you need and you won’t miss out on anything. Except maybe a few viral products you never needed anyways...

Much love,

p.s

While you step away from the scroll, come join me in Activating Abundance, and use that new found free time for good.